calvinandhobbes
Responses from calvinandhobbes
| Did your system getting better the more money you spent or more experience you gained? It's helpful to be able to spend money, but it's more important to have the listening skills and experience to know what truly sounds better & not just different. | |
| Best RCA interconnect up to ~$100? A third vote for DH Labs interconnects. I got 2 pairs of used 1-meter DH Labs BL-1 Series 2 interconnects for $75 total off of eBay. One of my best audio buys ever. | |
| Recommend me a DAC under 3k Another vote for the Pontus II DAC. FWIW, at least on the Pontus DAC, the choice of power cord can affect the clarity, resolution, and timing of the DAC a lot. And the most expensive power cord may not sound the best. The power cords that I've tr... | |
| Significant steps? (DAC) I know that the Chord Qutest has been well liked at the $1500k price point, but my personal experience with having both in my system is that the Denafrips Pontus II is a big step up in refinement, detail, naturalness of sound for acoustic instrume... | |
| Question: What are some of your best pieces of advise to someone new to the hobby? Listen, Listen, Listen before buying equipment. And listen to music that they like. | |
| Sugden Amps Well, I would definitely describe the Sugden as being on the 'not fatiguing' side of the spectrum for a solid-state amp and it does sound warm, BUT ideally I think you should try to hear it with your speakers. It's got a very rich, syrupy warm sou... | |
| "Audiophile" Power Cables: The Greatest Audio Conspiracy Theory of All Time? From an electrical engineer that designs audio equipment: https://the-hifi-podcast-with-darren-and-duncan.simplecast.com/episodes/shielding-grounding-draining-and-isolation https://the-hifi-podcast-with-darren-and-duncan.simplecast.com/episodes/... | |
| "Audiophile" Power Cables: The Greatest Audio Conspiracy Theory of All Time? @waytoomuchstuff Can you PM me the link to your survey? I don't think it was in your last post dated 4/27. | |
| "Audiophile" Power Cables: The Greatest Audio Conspiracy Theory of All Time? @waytoomuchstuff Yes, please do send me the link to your survey. | |
| "Audiophile" Power Cables: The Greatest Audio Conspiracy Theory of All Time? Here's my vote on the side that power cables can matter. I've tried 11 power cords on my Denafrips Pontus II DAC. Some were loaned by a friend. Other purchased and returned via Amazon Prime. Tripp-Lite Heavy Duty: $15 WAudio 10AWG HiFi Power... | |
| FAVORITE POWER CABLE under $100 (1M) I will say that from my experience, synergy between a cable and the equipment that it is being used on should be a consideration. That being said, I will add a third vote for Supra LoRad power cords. I've tried 10 other power cords on my Denafrips... | |
| Why is everyone so down on MQA? Reasons for me: 1. Even Spotify Premium sounds better to my ears. 2. Qobuz definitely sounds better. 3. MQA is a proprietary format that would be a tax on the music industry if its creators had managed to get it established as a standard. 4. I... | |
| What am I missing? Digital music files stored locally are easier to use than CD. Streamed files (from Qobuz, Spotify, etc) are even easier to use, but may not sound as good as local digital files. The only advantage that CDs have is potentially better sound quality... | |
| Amazon music vs Qobuz These were my impressions of Qobuz vs Amazon HD as of Nov 2020: Winner for me is Qobuz for the following reasons. Amazon: Sounds more flat. Less drive than Qobuz so that some music sounds like it is plodding along. Sound is less full. Amazon HD ... | |
| Do You Tell Others How Much You Have Invested in Your System? Also, it might not be good to share your system cost with people that know how to listen either. I remember perhaps 2 good sounding systems costing over $100k that I've heard in the past 25 years. It would be slightly embarrassing to throw out a i... |